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THOMAS
,
WILLIAM JENKYN
(
1870
-
1959
),
schoolmaster and author
;

b.
5 July 1870
, the son of
JohnThomas
,
Bryncocyn
,
Llangywer, Mer.
, and his wife
Catherine
who d. when
William
was a child, and the family moved to
Plas Madog
,
Llanuwchllyn
. He went to
Friars School
,
Bangor
, before matriculating as a sizar at
Trinity College
,
Cambridge
, in
1888
; he had a
scholarship
in
1890
and graduated
B.A.
(class I part I in the classical tripos), and
M.A.
in
1896
. After being a
lecturer in classics
at
Bangor
,
1891-96
, he became
headmaster
of
Aberdare county school
. In
1905
he was appointed
headmaster
of the
Grocers Company School
at
Hackney Downs
,
London
, when it was taken over by
London county council
; he remained in post until his retirement in
1935
. He took a prominent part in the
Association of Headmasters
. He was
joint-secretary
of the
Incorporated Association of Headmasters
,
1913-33
; was made
president
in
1934
and re-elected for another year. He was a strong defender of his profession and did not hesitate to condemn any political interference in education, as when the governors of
Pontypridd school
refused to grant a holiday to the children on the occasion of a royal wedding in
1935
, or when the
Labour Party
attempted to raise a committee in the same year to consider rewriting history books. He was harsh in his criticism of universities and the state for their reluctance in awarding worthy honours to teachers.
DavidLloyd George
(see above)
paid tribute to him in a preface to a souvenir booklet in celebration of his thirty years’ headship at
Hackney Downs
. In
1893
he
published a collection of
penillion
to be sung to harp accompaniment
, and with
E.DoughtyThe new Latin Delectus
(
1908-09
). He
edited an anthology of the poems
of
Sallust
and
Ovid
in
1900
, and two volumes for the ‘
Cameos of Literature
’:
The harp of youth, a book of poetry
for school and home
(
1907
) and
A book of English prose
(
1909
). With
Charles W.Bailey
he published
Letters to a young headmaster
(
1927
). Though he spent a lifetime in
London
he did not forget the needs of
Wales
. He edited
Cambrensia: a literary reading book for Welsh schools
(
c.
1904
), and published
The Welsh fairy book
(
1907
and a number of reprints to
1995
),
More Welsh fairy and folk tales
(
1957
), and a booklet
Heroes of Wales
(
1912
) based on sculptures in
Cardiff City Hall
. Some of his articles appeared in
Cymru
and
Wales
around
1894-95
; and in
Wales
,
1911-15
, there appeared a series of biographies by him entitled ‘
Forgotten Welshmen
’. He addressed the
Hon. Soc. of Cymmr.
in
1941
on the same subject,
urging the compiling and publishing of biographies of eminent Welsh persons
[see
Trans. Cymm
.,
1941
, 100-14]. For five years, if not more, he had appealed in lectures to the
Guild of Graduates
and on the radio for this project to be undertaken. [He contributed to
Bywg.
/
DWB
]. He made his home at
38 Windsor Road
,
Finchley
, and he and his wife had at least two sons. His wife,
Marian Rose
(née
Dixon?
)
, d.
22 Oct. 1936
and he d.
14 March 1959
.

Sources:

The Biographical Index of W. W. Price,
Aberdâr
(at the National Library of Wales and Aberdare
Public Library)
;